Football

Honduran forward Dereck Moncada started for FC Lugano in a 3-1 away victory over Basel in Swiss league play, extending Lugano's perfect record to seven straight wins and 18 points.

CD Victoria, the La Ceiba football club acquired by TikToker Carlos Eduardo Espina, is defending 14 arbitration cases from former players including Wisdom Quaye, Fabricio Silva, and Walter Martínez seeking unpaid wages, with hearings underway.

The Honduran Professional Football League released the schedule for matchdays 6–9 of the 2026–27 Apertura tournament, featuring cross-group matchups between teams from groups A and B, with classic rivalries included.

Honduras will play four group-stage matches in the Concacaf Nations League between September 25 and October 5, facing Jamaica twice, Surinam once, and Martinica once, under coach José Francisco Molina.

Marathón president Daniel Otero apologized to fans after the team's 1-0 defeat to El Salvador's Alianza FC in Copa Centroamericana play, with the San Pedro Sula club needing to beat Nicaragua's Real Estelí on Wednesday to advance.

Honduras's football federation confirmed the second-division Apertura tournament will proceed with 36 teams after rejecting El Carbonal FC's admission and denying Olimpia Occidental's request to withdraw, with the season opening August 22.

Goalkeeper and captain Édrick Menjívar, attackers Michaell Chirinos and Yustin Arboleda, and Jorge Benguché and Edwin Rodríguez all see their Olimpia contracts expire in December 2026, leaving the club's leadership key renewal decisions.

Honduras's Liga Nacional continues its Apertura 2026–27 tournament across August 8–9 with six matches, including Jornada 1 winners Motagua, Real España, Olimpia, Génesis, Marathón, and Olancho FC all back in action.

Motagua defeated Juticalpa 3-0 in the first match of Honduras's Apertura 2026 season, the top-flight spring tournament.

José Ernesto Mejía, secretary of Honduras's football federation, says the primary goal is building young talent through new methodology and development programs, not ensuring 2030 World Cup qualification, and backs FIFA's proposal to expand the tournament to 64 teams.

Miguel "Hino" Mathews, a prolific striker who became a legend of Honduran football in the 1980s with Real España and Motagua and represented the national team, died of sudden cardiac arrest in San Pedro Sula on July 25.

The National Football League unanimously approved an expansion to 12 clubs for the 2026–27 season in an ordinary assembly held in San Pedro Sula, marking a significant structural change to the Honduran championship.

The Honduran National League (Liga Hondubet) will expand from 11 to 12 clubs beginning in the 2026–2027 season, approved unanimously by club representatives, with Atlético Independiente de Siguatepeque among the leading candidates for the new slot.

Keyrol Figueroa, the young Liverpool prospect and son of former Honduras captain Maynor Figueroa, made his debut for the Honduran national team and said the team can go far.

Honduras fell to Argentina 2-0 in an international friendly at Kyle Field in College Station, Texas, with goals from Lautaro Martínez and Giuliano Simeone.